Hot results from art fire sale

Contemporary art forced to auction after the collapse of the Australian Art Investment Trust did surprisingly well at Leonard Joel Melbourne on Sunday.

The 336-lot sale grossed $417,000 – well above its $200,000 to $330,000 estimate – or $500,200 including the auction house fee. Most of the paintings were estimated at only a few hundred dollars each, way below their retail prices, thus greatly annoying to the artists caught up in the collapse.

But with many selling for well above their estimates, and the sale clearing 97 per cent by lot, it might end up helping them. Twelve artist records were set, with the highest price being paid for Geoff Dyer’s Untitled (Bushfire Series) II, which made $14,640 including premium. It had been estimated at $2000 to $4000. A painting by an unidentified artist made $4392 including premium against an estimate of $200 to $400.

“The irony is there were some good results which the artists can refer to as some sort of benchmark price for their work,” said Joel chief executive John Albrecht.

The Australian Financial Review

BY Katrina Strickland

Katrina is editor of The Australian Financial Review Magazine, based in our Sydney newsroom.